Tax scam: Gift cards are never used to make tax payments.
The IRS reminds you that it will never call you to demand immediate payment using a specific payment method. Stay vigilant!
02/09/2022
The IRS would like to remind you that the agency won’t ask for or accept gift cards as payment for a tax bill. Scammers may nevertheless ask you to pay fake tax bill with gift cards.
This scam usually happens as follows:
- The scammer, posing as an IRS agent, will threaten or harass you by requesting that you pay a fictitious tax bill by gift card;
- The scammer will instruct you to buy gift cards from various stores and provide the gift card number and PIN over the phone, or through text message, email or social media.
The real IRS will:
- Generally, first mail a bill to you if you owe taxes;
- Never call you to demand immediate payment using a specific payment method such as a gift card, prepaid debit card or wire transfer;
- Never demand that you pay taxes without giving you a chance to question or appeal the amount it believes you owe;
- Never threaten to bring in local police, immigration officers or other law enforcement to arrest you for not paying;
- Threaten to revoke your driver’s license, business licenses or immigration status.
If you believe that you’ve been targeted by a scammer, you should:
- Use the IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting webpage to report it;
- Use the FTC Complaint Assistant on FTC.gov to report phone scams to the Federal Trade Commission;
- Report threatening or harassing telephone calls claiming to be from the IRS to phishing@irs.gov. The email subject line should read “IRS phone scam”.
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